Android Nougat Developer Preview 5 Released – Likely The Final One

The Android development team at Google has rolled out what is likely the last Developer Preview for Android Nougat. The update takes devices to build NPD90G and it is available for all of the Nexus devices that have been a part of the beta testing process. Those devices include

Nexus 5X

Nexus 6

Nexus 6P

Nexus 9

Nexus Player

Pixel C

General Mobile 4G (Android One)

For those how have devices registered in the Android Beta program, the OTA update should be coming to you over the course of the next few hours. If you want to manually flash your device to the newest build, the images are available already.

Google states in the release notes that these images are at the near final stage and likely will give testers the closest representation of what we can expect in Nougat from a features and UI

Android Nougat on The Nexus 6

perspective. Of course, things can change even at this late stage but likely we are seeing what we will all get in a few months.

As you would expect at this point in the development process, the number of known issues has gone down significantly since the first preview. Here is the rundown of issues that Google published as part of the update to the developer site.

Stability

Users may encounter system instability (such as kernel panics and crashes).

Multi-window

MapView may be blank when resized in multi-window mode and not focused.

Camera

Apps may encounter Intermittent issues recording and playing back video at 240fps.

Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb mode may be set at device reboot. To work around the issue, delete the existing rule for VR as follows: go to Settings > Sound > Do not disturb > Automatic Rules and tap the trash icon next to the VR rule.

Screen zoom and multiple APKs in Google Play

On devices running Developer Preview 5, Google Play services 9.0.83 incorrectly reports the current screen density rather than the stable screen density. When screen zoom is enabled on these devices, this can cause Google Play to select a version of a multi-APK app that’s designed for smaller screens. This issue is fixed in the next version of Google Play services.

Vulkan support and multiple APKs in Google Play

On devices running Developer Preview 5, Google Play services 9.0.83 currently reports Vulkan support but not Vulkan version. This can cause Google Play to select a version of a multi-APK app that’s designed for lower Vulkan support on devices with higher version support. Currently, the Google Play Store does not accept uploads of Apps which use Vulkan version targeting. This support will be added to the Google Play Store in the future any Android N devices using the Google Play services 9.0.83 will continue to receive versions of Apps targeting basic Vulkan support.

Android Auto

The version of Google Maps included in Developer Preview 5 (9.30) crashes when used with Android Auto. This issue will be fixed in the next update to Google Maps (9.31), expected in the coming weeks.

The bottom line is that we are really close to seeing the final version of Nougat which will roll out generally later this summer. Nexus devices will almost certainly see Nougat first when it is released but HTC has also committed to having it available for several of their devices. Having been testing Nougat on my Nexus 6 since Preview 2, it has certainly come a long way and feels far more complete than it did in April.